Posted on 08/08/2010 10:28:07 AM PDT by Principled
More than a week after a judge blocks parts of Arizona's immigration law, the executive director of a Georgia Latino group said if that law is passed in the peach state, the poultry industry would feel the fallout.
Jerry Gonzalez with the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials said anywhere between 40 and 50 percent of the workforce in the poultry industry is illegal.
"If we were to remove 40 to 50 percent of the workforce, would our economy suffer," Gonzalez asked during WDUN's The Local Hour Friday morning. "The answer to that is yes."
He said lawmakers need to question whether or not the North Georgia economy can withstand the kind of negative economic impact an Arizona-type law might have.
Gonzalez said the tax strain on the local level caused by illegal immigrants should be considered but so should the contributions of illegals to the livelihood of North Georgia's economy.
thank you. You are right. Very well said. ANd thanks for bringing in the justification used by the salve-owners.
The natural progression is that higher labor costs stimulate the engineering of labor-saving machinery, which could then be exported. Low-cost labor (whether local illegals or offshore) inhibits this.
The guy is nuts.... but worst case small local businesses might have a chance against these huge food producers. I miss those businesses.
The overall cost to the economy would probably be lower, since the costs borne to educate the illegals' children and provide free medical care wouldn't be shifted to society at large, and unemployed Americans currently being supported by the government would have more available jobs. Chicken might cost a few pennies more, but everything else would cost a bit less, and we wouldn't be building a balkanized culture of unassimilable foreigners whose allegiance lies elswehere.
I'm sure if we got to using it for their Latino spokespersons the Leftwingtards would run screaming down the hill their hair on fire!~
Ping!
All the workers were Americans.
As a new employee (head for college) I got $1.75 per hour minimum wage (at the time),
Some of our cutters were making $15.00 per hour, which was nearly as much as the foundry guys at Allison who did engine blocks.
Today even the supervisors in such an operation would work entirely in a Spanish speaking environment ~ and NO ONE ON THE LINE would also be trained in detecting any one of over 300 different diseases poultry can acquire.
Your chicken isn't safe today folks ~
Exactly right.
My neighbor sells eggs and he said an Ag Dep’t guy came around and wanted to know if his chickens were registered.
He says he told the guy to get off his property.
So he did. For how long?
this has GOT to stop.
Chances are the guy will be back with the sheriff.
And it probably wouldn't even raise the price. Might even lower it.
Not too much chicken in mcnuggets, EPU!
In 1998, Georgians demanded that immigration enforcement be stopped because it was taking their illegal labor from the Vidalia Onion farms. That time it wasn’t some Latino group demanding it....it was the REPUBLICAN GEORGIA CONGRESSIONAL delegation, including Saxby Chambliss and NEWT Gingrich.
Yes, they are a big part of why Clinton stopped workplace enforcment.
,*** the poultry industry would feel the fallout. ***
Back in the 1950s, all the poultry workers in NW Arkansas were white. They were held in an economic stranglehold by THE CHICKEN MAN and his CHICKEN CATCHER!
Pay was about 25 cents an hour for HARD work. Because it was agricultural it was legal to pay less than minimum wage.
In the late 1960s pay was about 75 cents an hour. Some new industry began to come into the area and compete with the CHICKEN MAN for employees. One day an accountant found the CHICKEN MAN could pay an extra .25 cents an hour and it would not affect the CHICKEN MAN’s bottom line.
His words were....”I’m NOT going to give them an extra 25 cents an hour!”
He reached a point where new employees were looking at other jobs rather than take his poverty pay and the extra hard work that went with it.
So, about 1968 THE CHICKEN MAN sent to MEXICO and brought into this area the first legal Mexican laborers, the first outsiders many here had ever seen.
Now we have lots of Mexicans, both legal and illegal along with lots of H’mong from Laos. Most seem to try to get along and do well but there are a few troublemakers.
My point, exactly!
Don’t free the slaves, the price of cotton will skyrocket!
I would happily purchase chicken stamped “Made in America by Americans” if I knew not one illegal was employed by the company. No Kidding - a 20% or so premium is not a high price to pay to get illegals out of our state. And if the illegals want to establish chicken farms back in their home country and abide by FDA rules, I’d consider buying their legs and wings as well. But we have far too many unemployed Americans to tolerate cheap labor sending checks to their casas.
‘scuse me - redneck unemployed-knows how to prep a chicken.
Working in the plants near me used to pay reasonably well for unskilled work. Then they figured out that they could get Mexicans to do things for pennies and wages were slashed. The demand for chicken isn’t going away so this would force them to pay Americans a decent wage.
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